For your 18th birthday, a politician at your party

Among the various jaw-dropping elements of the Sam Adams-Beau Breedlove story -- and that file is now as thick as a Portland zoning variance application -- is the part where Adams, a Portland city commissioner in line to become mayor, journeyed down to Salem for Breedlove's 18th birthday party. The puzzlements have arisen on both sides of the question: 1) how many 18-year-olds would want a city commissioner at their party, rather than, say, a garage band, and 2) how many politicians see teen-age birthday parties as part of their public duties.

But on the last one, perhaps we've missed a trend.

Last week, the wife of Italian Prime Minister (and media multibillionaire) Silvio Berlusconi publicly complained (and now seems about to file for divorce) over Berlusconi's attending the 18th birthday party of a lingerie model whom he calls a friend of the family.

"That really surprised me," mused Signora Berlusconi, "because he has never come to the 18th birthday parties of any of our children despite being invited."

People have different tastes on these occasions.

The first lady was demanding an apology, which it turned out that this time she wasn't going to get, and the disagreement now appears headed for divorce court, possibly with the birthday cake (or cannoli) as exhibit A. Berlusconi stands firm in his insistence that attending the party was just constituent service.

"If I didn't do these things," declared Berlusconi, "I wouldn't be me.''

Being him has given Berlusconi a 66 percent approval rating, even if he has no position on bike lanes.

But last weekend, according to The Sunday Times of London, the 18-year-old told an Italian newspaper that she would now like to run for office -- maybe the lower house of Parliament -- and that Berlusconi would "fix it up."